by Don Hart

Every good story needs a villain. In Survivor Gabon, Ace is being portrayed in such a villainous light that we viewers almost feel as if we are being forced to dislike him. We may not like him, but he is anything but boring. As an old English professor of mine said, the most interesting character in Milton’s Paradise Lost is Satan.

After many negative comments in previous episodes, Survivor’s editors in Episode 6 chose to let us hear the following Ace arrogance:

1. To Sugar: “I may call upon you to use the idol.”
2. To the camera: “I’ve got Sugar in my pocket.”
3. To Kelly at Tribal Council: “Honestly, Kelly, I’d be impressed if you understood what I was saying half the time.”

Comments about Ace

1. Sugar: “I know Ace is a snake.”
2. Crystal: “Ace is a tyrant and a bully.”
3. Ken: “He’s very sleazy”. & “I know he’s sneaky and he’s got alliances back on the Kota tribe.”

In post-eviction interviews many ex-Survivors have commented that their portrayals on the show were edited to show certain traits, but that there were many different sides to their personalities that were left out. This is perhaps the case for Ace. He may have many positive qualities that we’re not seeing. But what we are seeing mostly paints Ace in a bad light. With all the negativity surrounding Ace, we the viewers are more than not rooting against him. He is our Satan whose downfall we eventually want to see.

And in creating tribal council drama, a Survivor staple, the Council in episode 6 kept us guessing about who was going to be voted out. Was it going to be Kelly, Ace’s favorite target, or a faltering Crystal, or was Ace going to be blindsided now that everyone knew Sugar took the idol back?

Subliminal/Suggestive Messaging

Millions across the U.S. must have been hoping for an Ace eviction. To add fuel to viewer manipulation, we then heard through the music just before the vote revelations: “Ace, Ace, Ace, Ace.” Listen again. It’s very clear, very clever. The producers may have used this before, but this is the first time my friends and I caught it. Ace is indeed the villain we’re being led to dislike.

Other Episode 6 Impressions

Best performance
Ken: Kudos to his game strategy. He got Sugar to reveal that she gave her idol to Ace and somehow convinced her to get it back.

Worst performances
1. Matty: He betrayed his old pals and made a pact with the devil Ace. He then proceeded to think way too far in advance to the Final Three in plotting with Ace (of all people!) to strip Sugar of her idol. He continues to be clueless about tribal dynamics and overall game strategy.
2. Crystal: She’s shown some game savvy, but at the same time she’s let her emotions dominate. She’s revealing too much character weakness and getting into too many confrontations. And her athletic ability continues to be suspect.
3. Dan: His big mouth is not just verbal now, but is also a wide opening to an equally big stomach. His social ineptitude is leading him to an eviction very soon.
4. Randy: His nasty gestures and comments berating the hapless Fangs were just plain stupid. He’s not thinking ahead to the merge when he will need friends and allies. He’s shown some good moves in prior episodes, but he is losing jury votes quickly should he happen to go far in the game. Crystal called him a “bitter troll”, and “bitter trolls” do not end up winners. It’s a shame, because he seemed like such an interesting pick for this Survivor.

A final note to “The Amazing Race”: The Emmy winner could use a bit more of Survivor-like dramatic editing. We don’t know the Racers’ personalities in a way even close to the Survivors’. We see some ever-present conflict at the airplane ticket counters, but nowhere near the depth of character development in “Survivor”.

For feedback, please email me at cosohub@ix.netcom.com